


Missing Scene: Ezra’s Tattoos Reveal

by nutmeag83



Series: What Is a Picture Worth? [2]
Category: Good Omens (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Flowers, Instagram, Light Pining, M/M, Missing Scene, Pre-Slash, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-04
Updated: 2020-02-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 02:34:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22556383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nutmeag83/pseuds/nutmeag83
Summary: This takes place during the time period of Part III of No Picture Can Express. Anthony finds out what Ezra's tattoos are. He gets a pleasant surprise during the reveal.
Relationships: Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)
Series: What Is a Picture Worth? [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1622938
Comments: 14
Kudos: 93





	Missing Scene: Ezra’s Tattoos Reveal

**Author's Note:**

> I really wanted to include a scene where they talk about tattoos, but I couldn’t fit it in the story without interrupting the flow. As anyone who knows from my Sherlock tattoo fic, I ADORE tattoo fics. I screeched for an hour after I was gifted one in an exchange recently. Anywho, Anthony learns early in No Picture that Ezra has hidden tattoos, and I just needed a scene of him learning about them. So here we are. Missing scene!

> **so yeah that’s my most recent. got it last yr. these days i pick things i like the look of, not necessarily ones that have deep meaning. ya know?**

Anthony sends the message, hoping his friend will take the bait. They’ve talked about his ink a few times already, but Ezra has yet to reciprocate. Is he really that dense, or is he playing coy? He wiggles around to get more comfortable on his sofa. The evening is soft around him, and he wonders if talking to Ezra has anything to do with that. It probably does. Ezra makes everything dreamlike.

> If you want to know about mine, you need only ask. No need to keep mentioning yours. Unless you really are that vain. 😉

That answers that question then. Also, is he imagining it, or is Ezra being a bit flirty? So hard to tell when the winky face is ubiquitous in their society. Well, if he is doing it purposefully, two can play that game.

> **fine then. i showed you mine. time to show me urs 😉**

He holds his breath. There’s nothing for a while. No typing, no emojis. Did he scare Ezra off? Surely not. Ezra said he could ask. Six minutes and half a nervous cup of coffee later, a picture pops up in their conversation. _A picture_. He’d expected maybe a vague description, but this is up close and in color. In. Gorgeous. Color.

It shows a pale bicep—a little rounded but with more muscle definition than Anthony would have expected from his bookish friend, and he definitely does not swoon over it—covered with three birds in flight. The photo angle is terrible, as is the lighting, and the tattoo itself is faded and no longer has the sharp lines of new ink, but it’s still beautiful. Ezra’s first? Had it been an act of rebellion? A love of art? A book reference? He won’t know unless he asks.

> **its lovely. does it mean sth?**
> 
> I like to believe all tattoos mean something, even if that meaning is just the love of art. But yes, this one has specific meaning to me. It was my first, right after I came out and my family took it badly. I wanted to do the pride flag, but Jacob talked me into this instead. He said it was more important that I realize I’m free to fly away from everything my family didn’t want me to do or be, rather than making it specifically about my sexuality. We had an artist friend. She designed it.
> 
> **thank you for sharing**

Even though Anthony spells out all the words to show how much it means to him to see the ink and learn the story, his words feel inadequate. His words always feel inadequate when it comes to Ezra. He’s still not sure why such a smart and bookish man has any interest in being his friend. Then he shakes his head. If Ezra could hear his thoughts, he’d berate them. He doesn’t like it when Anthony is self-deprecating.

> I’m happy to share it with you.

A second snap pops up before Anthony can think of anything else to say. This one shows—oh God—an open-buttoned shirt over a vest. The low scoop neck of the undershirt exposes a book with wings on Ezra’s chest. A hint of collarbone peaks out of the top of the picture, and Anthony almost dies. Seeing this much of his friend’s skin feels scandalous. He himself bares that much regularly, but on Ezra’s usually buttoned-up frame, it seems more … naked. Revealing. He feels like a Victorian man getting a glimpse of a beloved’s ankle. He tries to calm his breathing.

> This one I got after I finished uni. Read literature, of course. Books always felt more like my guardian angel than any righteous blazing white being with wings that my family believed in. I could hide in books. I could forget the bad. I could be whomever I wanted to be.

Anthony tries for more than a simple thank you this time.

> **its vry u. i like it. is that where ur insta handle comes from?**
> 
> Yes. 😊 Tracy told me I couldn’t use my real name, because that’s boring. It took me a few tries, but I eventually came up with this one.

He’s about to reply when he sees that Ezra is typing again, so he waits. The typing stops, then starts again.

> I have one more. Fairly new. Like you, I find that I like simply pretty tattoos the older I get. Meaning is wonderful, but I agree that it’s not always necessary, beyond love of beauty.

A few seconds later, the final picture arrives, and if Anthony wasn’t already sitting down, he’d need to. The ink is on Ezra’s inner forearm. It’s a floral arrangement. It’s one of his _own_ arrangements. He remembers because it’s one of his favorites. It’s mostly greenery with a few dark purple landini lilies.[1] The artistic rendition etched on skin even has the baby’s breath Anthony almost hadn’t added, but he’d caught a glimpse of Ezra earlier that morning and couldn’t get that soft white-blond hair out of his mind’s eye. He’s pulled out of his musings when his phone buzzes. It reminds him to breathe.

> I apologize if this is stealing. I saw it in your shop window one day and fell in love with it. I took a picture (one of my first from when I originally got my smart phone!) to remember it by, and it just stuck with me, and I wanted to see it forever. I found an artist who specializes in floral tattoos and asked them to design a tattoo based on the picture. I realize now I should have asked. ☹

Anthony rushes to soothe his friend as he tries to calm his own heart.

> **no no! it’s fine. it’s great. im so flattered.**
> 
> **art is art and the fact that mine inspired u is amazing. i never dreamed my plants would do more than make some1 smile for a few hrs. my flwers are so fleeting, but youve imortalised them.**
> 
> **thank you**
> 
> **so much**

He wishes he had words, the right words, to say everything he feels right now. The gratefulness for being noticed, the awe for his friend’s sharp eye, the warmth of friendship, and the pangs of love. It’s too overwhelming to put into words. Not to mention, he can’t exactly spout words of love at the man who has only recently become his friend. He’d rather not scare him away just yet. He settles for a blushing smiley face, then falls back on his sofa, phone dropped on his chest, to properly cement these tattoo images in his mind. He’ll be thinking of them for years.

He’s got it bad.

  
**\--Footnote--**   
  


[1] <https://www.gardenmandy.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Landini-Lily.jpg>

**Author's Note:**

> You can come babble excitedly at me on Tumblr [@vateacancameos](http://vateacancameos.tumblr.com/).


End file.
